Bench Talk
by Nutmeg Lee
Summary: Sometimes, all you need is a bench and a friend. Oneshot. Set during HSM2. Zelsi friendship.


_I definitely still don't own High School Musical._

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Kelsi sat in front of the piano in the music room at Lava Springs and sniffled as another tear trickled down her face. She could hear the staff busy in the kitchen, but couldn't be bothered to go in and visit her friends-she hated it when people saw her cry. After running through Sharpay's awful version of "You Are the Music in Me," Kelsi ran straight into the room, hoping that playing her music the way it was supposed to be played would make her feel better. That wasn't the case, though, and it seemed as though playing her own music-compositions that she used to be proud of-only reminded her of every time Sharpay ruined one of her pieces. Why couldn't she stand up to her? Why did she always let Sharpay get away with stealing her music and destroying every part of it, consequentially destroying part of Kelsi's soul in the process. Every song she wrote came from the heart and meant something. So when something as dear to her as "You Are the Music in Me" became yet another Ice Queen massacre, Kelsi couldn't take it anymore and ran off crying. It hurt to hear so much of her being be torn apart like that.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps heading towards the music room and quickly wiped away any remaining tears that were on her face. She looked up just in time to see Zeke enter with a box in his hand. "Hi, Zeke," she greeted him quietly with what she hoped was a happy looking smile on her face. "What brings you here?"

Zeke, however, only looked concerned for his smaller friend. "Nuh-uh, I get to ask questions first right now," he said. He placed the box on the end of the piano and made his way to sit next to her. "A couple of the wait staff were talking about the piano girl running in here crying. Clearly something's wrong. So, what's going on, Kels?"

Kelsi hung her head back down as she felt the tears begin to come back. She wrung her hands together, trying to distract herself so she wouldn't cry in front of Zeke. "It's nothing," she whispered.

The tall basketball player frowned at her. When Kelsi's shoulders were hunched like that, her head hanging down, and her hands folded together on her lap, all Zeke could be reminded of was Kelsi before Troy and Gabriella sung her song. The Kelsi that he barely even knew existed. She was the quiet girl in homeroom who always seemed to be writing on some weird looking paper. She was the girl with the hats that sat at Sharpay's table at lunch. She was the girl who he'd think he recognized in the hallway, but couldn't be sure because she was always looking down and rushing to wherever it was she was going. But other than that, he hadn't known a single thing about her. And now, only a few months later, Zeke couldn't picture his life without the shy composer in it. She was always there to make one of her friends feel better. She was always the first to praise someone's accomplishments. She was always the one who listened to everyone else's problems. She was kind, fun, and talented, one of the greatest friends he could have ever asked for, and he was sure he'd never even seen her smile until the whole callback fiasco happened. The small brunette sitting beside him right now, though, was not the Kelsi that he recognized. This was Kelsi before the callbacks had happened, and there was no way he was gonna let her lapse back into that. Pre-callbacks Kelsi was someone Zeke hoped to not see around ever again.

"You know that you can talk to me about anything, right, Kels?"

She then looked up at him and tilted her head slightly, a confused look on her face. "Of course."

Zeke smiled at her. "So talk away. I've been told my ears are pretty good listeners. And, not to brag or anything, but I also have the best shoulders to lean on," he said with a jokingly smug look. His features brightened a bit more when Kelsi laughed a little.

"Okay," she said quietly, her laugh fading, leaving barely a smile back on her face as she looked back down at her hands. "It's just... are my songs... are they..." She paused for a moment before looking back up at Zeke. He was startled by how anxious she looked which only prompted him to worry a little bit more about her. "Are my songs not good enough?" Her eyes were almost pleading with him to answer her honestly.

Zeke was surprised at what Kelsi had asked because he thought it was as clear as Chad loved basketball that her songs were good. More than good, they were incredible. The kind of songs that Zeke would proudly blast in his car. "Your songs are amazing, Kelsi, why would you even ask that?"

Kelsi felt the lump in her throat form as fresh tears began to fall from her eyes. "Then why do people keep changing them?" Never having dealt with a crying girl before, Zeke almost panicked. He did what he thought was best and put his arm around her, allowing her to cry softly into his shoulder. He sighed. Zeke didn't know if Kelsi knew or not, but practically the entire basketball team had adopted her as their little sister. They met through callbacks, but as rehearsals for _Twinkle Towne_ were underway, Kelsi found herself being pulled into the group of Wildcats thanks to her newfound friendship with Troy and Gabriella. Inevitably, the entire basketball team got to know her, and they all quickly became her big brothers. They all felt a need to protect her, especially after seeing the way she was treated by the Evans twins.

And he knew when she said "people," she mainly meant Sharpay. Sharpay was the only one who constantly asked Kelsi to change the already brilliant compositions to fit her liking. It was like being stuck between a rock and a hard place for Zeke. On one hand, he knew it was Sharpay that had hurt Kelsi. It almost always seemed as though it was Sharpay. On the other hand, though, he knew that she was capable of being a kind and compassionate human being. She knew Troy said something about scholarship opportunities before he decided to blow them all off. She was probably just worried about impressing the people at U of A, and didn't mean to cause Kelsi any sort of pain. Choosing his wording carefully, Zeke decided to voice his opinion.

"Maybe... maybe she's just worried about all those scholarship people being there. You know her, you've worked with her for years. She's never done a slow song before, has she?" Kelsi shook her head and sniffled. "Then there you go. All those fast songs are all she knows, and she knows she's really good at them. So she just wants to be sure that she'll perform well." Zeke looked down at Kelsi and gave her an encouraging smile. "And besides, if she didn't like your songs, would she keep on asking you to write ones for her?"

Kelsi took all this information in and began to process them. She wasn't completely convinced that that was the reason Sharpay constantly wanted her songs altered, but as she looked at her basketball baking friend, she couldn't argue with him. He would go through a valley of fire to show that Sharpay did in fact have a heart beneath her hard and cold exterior. There was one thing she couldn't find an argument to, though. Sharpay did always ask Kelsi to write songs for her, and even change and transpose songs written by other people to suit her fancy. If the female Evans twin didn't care for her songs, then she wouldn't even bother with Kelsi in the first place.

A small smile appeared on Kelsi's face. "Maybe you're right," she said softly.

"Of course I'm right!" he replied brightly. "So, you feeling better now, Kels?"

Kelsi shrugged as she lifted her head off Zeke's shoulder. "Honestly? Not really. But I'm not crying anymore, so I can't complain."

Zeke frowned. He didn't come here just so Kelsi would still remain unhappy. That was simply unacceptable. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "How do you feel about chocolate mousse pies?"

He could've sworn he saw Kelsi's eyes glaze over. "They're my most favorite dessert in the whole world," she said. "My grandma used to make them when I was little. My mom says I always had a smile on my face after taking one bite."

Zeke grinned. "Perfect." He went up to grab the box he had set down upon first entering the room. Smiling triumphantly, he handed it over to the composer. "I just so happen to have one."

Kelsi's eyes widened as she carefully took the box out of his hands. "Are you serious?"

"Yup! I was gonna give this to Sharpay, but... well, I think you need it more than her right now."

Her head snapped back up to look at him, utter shock clearly written all over her face. "You're going to give me something you made for Sharpay?"

Zeke shrugged. "She likes cookies more, anyway." He smiled at her. "It's all yours, Shorty."

Kelsi's face turned dry as she raised an eyebrow. "Is that a jab at my height, Mr. Baylor?" He couldn't help but laugh a little at her. It was just too easy to push her buttons.

"What else would it be?" he asked her playfully.

She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Well, then thank you, Tall Guy."

Zeke scoffed. "Really? Tall Guy? That the best you can do?"

"Yeah, because 'Shorty' is so original," she giggled. She was quiet for a moment, then looked at Zeke. "Really, though. Thanks, Zeke. I do feel kinda better now."

He shrugged modestly. "It's what I do. Now you better eat every bit of that pie! I slaved long and hard over that thing and it better not go to waste," he jokingly threatened her.

She laughed again and stood up and started walking towards the kitchen, pie in hands. "No need to worry about that, Tall Guy."

Zeke chuckled as he held the door open for her. "That's what I wanna hear, Shorty."


End file.
